Tax cut hurts at the holidays

Monday

Dec 27, 2010 at 2:15 AM

My name is Bill Wolfinbarer and I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and I have been deaf since I was born. There are many just like me in your neighborhood, perhaps more than you think. As your neighbor, I would like to bring your attention to something that is happening right here on Cape Cod and in the rest of Massachusetts.

ColumnCreditBILL Wolfinbarer

My name is Bill Wolfinbarer and I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and I have been deaf since I was born. There are many just like me in your neighborhood, perhaps more than you think. As your neighbor, I would like to bring your attention to something that is happening right here on Cape Cod and in the rest of Massachusetts.

A month ago, the Cape Cod Times carried a small article on its front page concerning the impact that the decision to repeal the alcohol tax is having on our communities. The paper quoted Ray Tamasi, CEO of Gosnold on Cape Cod, a substance abuse and mental health service provider: "The taxpayers decided that they didn't want to spend an extra 40 cents on a six-pack of beer. "¦ What they weren't made aware of is that taxpayers pay $4 billion dollars a year for the consequences of alcoholism." The article said that here in Massachusetts, "The tax has raised more than $100 million, more than half of which was earmarked to fund alcohol recovery programs."

This sudden loss of funding for such lifeline programs, given the current economic stress on people, could not come at a worse time, and is already having dire effects on our communities here on the Cape.

My heart sank when I read this news because it felt like my own neighbors, by their vote not to spend some extra change on their alcohol purchases, had forgotten or not realized that there would be hard consequences for many of their own neighbors, friends and family, people like myself — who are struggling with the results of those same kind of purchases and other substance abuse problems.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the thinking: who wants to spend any more money on anything than they have to? But that money was meant to help people adversely affected by alcohol.

So, what are the hard consequences of this poor decision? Let me tell you my story.

Seventy-five years ago, AA was founded by two recovering alcoholics, Dr. Bob and Bill W. Their simple and yet inspired idea was to establish fellowships where people struggling with alcohol and substance abuse could regularly meet together, listen to each other's stories and support each other through difficult times. As a hearing-impaired person, I require a bridge to the world of audible speech to communicate with my AA peers. Interpreters provide that bridge and are crucial to receiving the support that AA provides. But if there are no interpreters, we cannot grasp this lifeline and we cannot receive the gift of fellowship.

Here is an example. Holidays can be a particularly hard time for those with substance abuse problems. And here on Cape Cod, 24-hour round the clock Alc-A-Thon meetings were planned on Christmas and New Year's to help with this recognized need. But since no interpreters will be available because of the shortage of funding, those who are hearing-impaired are, by default, not invited. There is no room at the inn for us.

Since it is Christmastime, let's look at it this way. The fellowship provided by AA is like a Christmas tree — a warm light in the winter darkness. As we move along during our time of sobriety and recovery, we begin to see our trees growing brighter and more beautiful.

On June 1 of this year, I actually died. My heart just stopped beating that day from complications of alcoholism — and I was rushed to the hospital. But miraculously, I survived, and have since received plenty of help both medically and emotionally, and interpreters have been essential to me on the road back to health.

Over the past months, I have worked hard in studying the 12-step Big Book, regularly attended the AA meetings and, thanks to interpreters, have never felt alone. That is, until the news was announced that the interpreter program for AA meetings was being curtailed because of the loss of funding from the vote to end the sales tax on alcohol. It felt like my neighbors, perhaps not thinking it mattered, had unplugged the Christmas tree — and I, and many like me, were going to be left alone in the dark. In short, as a result of the vote, there is no more fellowship, sharing or support — no more help for people like me.

So, I ask you — my Cape Cod neighbors and people of Massachusetts — to fully grasp the fact that alcoholism and drug addiction are real, and have real costs in both dollars and suffering. That substance abuse can and often does affect our friends, loved ones and just regular folks in our own communities, including people who have additional handicaps that make access to help already difficult. I ask you to understand the difference a few cents can make when purchasing your next six-pack, and urge you to reconsider your vote on the alcohol sales tax, and then let your state representatives and senators know.

Bill Wolfinbarer lives in Falmouth.

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